The Albanian language is composed of many dialects, divided into two major groups: Gheg and Tosk. The Shkumbin river is roughly the geographical dividing line, with Gheg spoken north of the Shkumbin and Tosk south of it.
Historical considerations
The characteristics of the Albanian dialects Tosk and Gheg, in the treatment of the native and loanwords from other languages, have led to the conclusion that the dialectal split preceded the Slavic migration to the Balkans.
According to the view of Demiraj, during the process of dialect split Albanian populations were roughly in their present location, while Eric Hamp notes that "it must be relatively old, that is, dating back into the post-Roman first millennium. As a guess, it seems possible that this isogloss reflects a spread of the speech area, after the settlement of the Albanians in roughly their present location, so that the speech area straddled the Jireček Line".
Gheg dialects
Gheg is divided into four sub-dialects: Northwest Gheg, Northeast Gheg, Central Gheg, and Southern Gheg. Northwest Gheg is spoken throughout Montenegro, northwestern Kosovo (west of Pejë), Lezhë, northwestern Mirditë, southwestern Tropojë, western Gusinje, western Pukë, and Shkodër. Northeast Gheg is spoken throughout most of Kosovo, Preshevë, Has, northeastern Mirditë, eastern parts of villages of Shalë commune of Shkodër, eastern parts of villages of other communes of Shkodër bordered with Tropojë, eastern Pukë, eastern Gjakovë, eastern Gusinje, Kukës, Tropojë, and northern Tetovë. Central Gheg is spoken in Debar, Gostivar, Krujë, northern Durrës, northern Tiranë, Peshkopi, southern Lezhë, southern Mirditë, Mat, Bulqizë, eastern Strugë, Kumanovo, and southern Tetovë. Southern Gheg is spoken in Durrës, northern Elbasan, northern Pogradec, Librazhd, northern Peqin, southern Bulqizë, Kavajë, northwest Strugë, and Tirana. One fairly divergent dialect is the Upper Reka dialect, which is however classified as Central Gheg. There is also a diaspora dialect in Croatia, the Arbanasi dialect.
Gheg features
No rhotacism: Proto-Albanian *-n- remains -n- (e.g. râna "sand"). Proto-Albanian *ō becomes vo. Nasal vowels: Gheg retains the nasal vowels of late Proto-Albanian and the late Proto-Albanian *â plus a nasal remains â (e.g. nândë "nine"). Although, the quality of the vowel varies by dialect, , , , etc. Some Northeast and Northwest Gheg dialects preserve the nasal in words such as "five" while other Gheg dialects do not, "five". Monophthongization: Occurs in some dialects of Shkodër in a few words, e.g. voe "egg" and hae "food". Phonological vowel length: There is often phonological vowel length in most Gheg dialects. Some dialects of Shkodër have a three length distinction in vowels, for example, short: "yoke", long: "pen", and extra-long: "yokes". a-vowel: In some dialects occurring in some certain words a may become a diphthong (e.g. for ballë "forehead") or become (e.g. for larg "far"). ë-vowel: Final -ë drops and often lengthens the preceding vowel. i-vowel: The i vowel in the word dhi (goat) can be realized as various vowels in the Central Gheg dialects: (Krujë), (Mountainous Krujë), or (Mat), as well as or in other regions. o-vowel: The o derounds to in some words in some dialects (e.g. for sot "today" in Krujë and among some Muslim speakers in Shkodër). u-vowel: The u vowel in different dialects occurring some words may vary, for example rrush "grape" may be , , , , or . y-vowel: The y vowel can remain as y (e.g. dy "two" in much of the Gheg speaking areas), derounded to i (e.g. "two" in Debar), or becomes more open and less rounded to (e.g. "two" in Mat and Mountainous Krujë). In other words in Central Gheg, the y vowel can become as in for sy "eye" (Mat and Krujë). bj/pj: These may yield bgj or pq in some dialects (e.g. pqeshkë for pjeshkë "peach" in Negotin). bl/pl/fl: These may become bj/pj/fj or even bgj/pq in some dialects (e.g. pjak for plak "old" in Toplica or for plak "old" in Negotin). dh and ll: These sounds may interchange in some words in some dialects. h: This may drop in any position in some dialects. mb/nd: Consonant clusters such as nd vary greatly by sub-dialect: nder "honor" can realized as , , , , , or . q/gj: In the Gheg dialects, q and gj may remain palatal stops and , change to postalveolar affricates and (and thus merging with Albanian ç and xh), change to alveolo-palatal affricates and , or even change to alveolo-palatal fricatives and . tj/dj: These may become palatal stops and in some dialects.